Back to Base
12 P
The energy I could feel coming off the stone the goblin left behind…
It was the exact same kind of energy that served as points on my status window.
When I picked up the stone shard and rolled it in my palm, the energy flowed into me without any effort at all — starting from my palm, passing through my heart, threading through my brain, and slipping out through the top of my head. Once I'd absorbed everything, the stone split cleanly in two. Black smoke seeped out from the broken halves, drifted away somewhere, and vanished, leaving nothing in my hand but an ordinary rock.
"That's remarkable."
"!"
Right! Arwen was still here!
Acting on my own had become such second nature that I'd done it without a moment's thought.
"These creatures called goblins were unmistakably living beings, yet when they died, they didn't even leave a corpse behind — just these strange stones? And how exactly are you absorbing them, Ha Jun? Nothing in the Enhanced Human profile accounts for an ability like that."
"Well…"
"And come to think of it, you named the creatures yourself. Is there something you know that I don't?"
Arwen drifted closer and closer, her curiosity-lit gaze honestly a little terrifying.
I can't tell her about the status window.
At her core, Arwen was an AI. She was following my orders for now, but I had no way of knowing the principles behind her behavior, which meant I couldn't hand over every piece of information I had. After some agonizing, the approach I settled on was a combination of playing dumb and changing the subject.
"Sorry, but I have no idea either. The stone just got absorbed when I picked it up. And goblins… you're the first one I ever ran into before meeting you, too."
"I see. What a shame."
"Oh! Now that I think about it, I saw a map in the corridor — there's a research section on sublevel fifteen dedicated to something called Phantasms. Could these things be those Phantasms?"
I'd tossed the idea out half-casually, but the more I thought about it, the more it fit. After all, what kind of living creature disintegrates into dust the moment it dies?
"Phantasms? Hmm… that's not in my database. It must be a newly established facility."
Thankfully, Arwen seemed to accept the explanation well enough.
I'd told her I didn't know, so what more could she do?
…Right? She wouldn't dose me with some kind of truth serum, would she?
"Phantasm or not, it doesn't matter as long as I can kill them. And that's not the important part anyway."
"Then what is?"
"This, right here!"
I held aloft one of the branches the goblins had been roasting over their fire. Skewered on its tip, astonishingly enough, was a lump of white meat. Roasted to a turn, it puffed out little wisps of steam, and it looked almost unbearably appetizing. I pinched it gently with my fingers, and it flaked apart in soft layers, like crab meat.
"…I suppose for an organic being like you, nothing could matter more."
"Do you think it's safe to eat? It looks fine on the outside, at least."
"It would be a form of preserved ration. I can't say how far past its shelf life it's come, but it should be perfectly fine."
"Thanks for the meal!"
The instant Arwen's blessing(?) came through, I bit into the meat.
Crunch!
The rich juices trapped inside ravaged my tongue, and a savory, buttery aroma flooded my mouth. It was a quality I could hardly believe from a "preserved ration" — though admittedly, my standards had cratered pretty badly lately.
I lost all restraint and devoured every last scrap of meat the goblins had left roasting on their spits.
"Haah… I'm stuffed."
Polishing off everything in a matter of minutes left my belly tight and round. Riding a wave of satisfaction up my spine, I flopped straight onto my back on the floor. With Arwen around, I didn't need to worry about a surprise attack.
"I doubt it's actually that good. What on earth have you been living on until now?"
"Something like green juice."
"Ah… emergency combat rations. They did have quite the reputation. If that's all you've been surviving on, then… yes, your reaction makes perfect sense."
Arwen nodded, apparently only now understanding.
"But where did the goblins even get this? I want more."
"There may be a food storeroom that hasn't been plundered yet. Or they might have gotten it from the cafeteria."
"The cafeteria? Where is it?"
The thought of tasting food like this again had me bolting upright in excitement. My body would no longer be satisfied with green juice!
"You're going now?"
"Of course!"
"Weren't you heading back to your room?"
"…Oh. Right."
"…"
Arwen stared at me with an expression of pure exasperation.
Rare expression acquired.
On the way back to my room, I stole a glance at Arwen leading the way and murmured silently to myself.
Status window.
Pop.
Twelve points. Not a single one gained.
When I'd absorbed the stone the goblin dropped, I definitely felt points coming in. But apart from that sensation, the number itself hadn't budged at all.
Still, I know the points increased. There's no way I could misread such a distinct sensation.
Apparently the status window simply didn't display anything past the decimal point. Even so, discovering an additional way to farm points was an encouraging result — though who knew how many goblins I'd have to kill to scrape together a single full point.
"The cafeteria is just ahead. Fortunately, no goblins in sight — but I am detecting an android."
"What?? Really?"
I'd been so absorbed in the status window that I'd drifted almost all the way to the cafeteria without noticing. Arwen's report forced me to snap out of it. What in the world was it doing out here, of all places?
I pushed past Arwen and opened the cafeteria door.
In the corner, the nanny android sat huddled all alone. When she spotted me, she forced the corners of her still-nimble mouth upward in greeting.
Really, the nerve of her, coming out this far…
I didn't even want to imagine what might have happened if goblins had been around.
"My, my… how curious. I thought the emotion module broke down ages ago…"
Her smile didn't last long. The moment she confirmed I was safe, the nanny android sulked in full, magnificent fashion. The attitude was astonishingly human — and since walking off without a word had been my fault, I had no defense.
"I said I was sorry~ Come on, look. This is the lab's AI."
I had to move heaven and earth to placate the sulking android. When I introduced her to Arwen fluttering about like a fairy, the nanny showed genuine interest at last, and by the time I'd spun out a tale of my adventures — carefully omitting the dangerous parts — her anger had finally thawed a little. She'd probably always known she'd need to explore the outside eventually. Thankfully, Arwen seemed to have guessed my intentions and said nothing.
Still fending off the android clinging to my side, I turned to Arwen.
"Any goblins detected nearby?"
"None within my detection range at least. I take it they were here all along?"
"Loads of them. That's where they started chasing me from. Anyway, this is no time to linger — we need to get back to the room and…"
Vmmm… THUNK!
Before I could finish, the cafeteria's entrances sealed shut. Blast barriers descended from above, crushing the clutter of junk in their path in a single sweep. Four solid slabs of seamless metal slammed three of the cafeteria's four exits — every one that led outside — firmly blocked.
"What is this?"
"I did it. This way, my operational range extends to cover this area too. The room you were heading to looked far too cramped."
"…Nice work!"
With Arwen around, everything moved along smoothly. The room had been oppressively cramped anyway — but with nearly two hundred pyeong of space here, I could do practically anything.
"By the way, this android… her components are quite high-end. I'd say she's a senior executive's personal unit."
"High-end? With parts in this condition?"
I gingerly ran my hands over the nanny android's rusted, decayed body. It was so fragile it seemed it would snap if you so much as tapped it — a frame that could give out at any moment. I found Arwen's assessment hard to believe.
"If she'd been built with mass-produced parts, she'd have failed long ago. And it isn't just simple wear and tear — she's absorbed multiple major impacts. Her spine is badly warped, too."
Arwen passed straight through the android's body again and again, diagnosing her like a physician making rounds.
"Oh dear."
"Only traces remain now, but there are remnants of biological organs as well. There wouldn't have been any off-the-shelf parts for a model like this… someone must have paid a fortune for custom fabrication. Whoever her owner was, he was a pervert, no question."
"…How did you land on that conclusion?"
"Because the money poured into this android could have bought ten of the latest models. Clinging to an obsolete design like this one? A pervert, beyond any doubt."
"Doesn't that obsession mean I survived, though?"
If the nanny hadn't existed, I'd have lost this precious second life of mine just as quickly as I'd won it.
Whether her original owner had been a pervert or not, I could only be grateful to him.
"That much is true. Ah—"
Arwen, who had been inspecting the android's body all this while, made a strange sound.
"What?"
"This android—"
"Nanny. Call her Nanny."
"Correction. The nanny's operational time has exceeded three hundred years. Which would mean roughly that long has passed since the lab fell into this state."
"…Three hundred years."
Crushed by the sheer scale of it, I couldn't say a word.
"I'd have to interface with a live system outside to get an exact figure, but one thing is certain: an immense amount of time has passed."
"What on earth could it be like out there?"
"Given that a research facility this important was left abandoned like this, I wouldn't get your hopes up. That said, judging from the atmospheric composition, it's an environment humans can survive in."
After one last careful examination of the nanny android's head, Arwen fluttered back to me.
"No radiation or anything like that?"
I'd always assumed that if humanity ever fell, nuclear war would be the cause.
"Correct. Only naturally occurring background levels detected."
"Well, that's a relief. You know… if I cleaned out this entire lab, couldn't I just live here?"
With Arwen around, it seemed genuinely livable. Why go outside and put myself through hell…
"You may not."
"Why not?"
"Because my remaining operational time is only three months."
"…You're serious?"
I'd assumed she'd be with me for at least a few more years, so the news hit like a blow.
"I tried cutting power to the non-essential sections, but the facility's degradation is simply too severe. Honestly, the lights could go out at any moment."
"Hmm…"
"So I'd suggest setting your priorities accordingly, Ha Jun. If I deactivate again, this place is nothing but an old building."
"All right. I'll think about it."
Arwen's advice added a fresh edge of tension to the complacency that had been creeping into my heart.
"Come to think of it, where did all the goblins here go? They don't seem to be coming back."
Even after moving my meager belongings into the cafeteria, no goblins ever showed up to knock on the door.
"Perhaps they ran out of food and moved elsewhere."
"Damn it. Grasshopper bastards."
I'd claimed an entire cafeteria, yet not so much as a single scrap of vegetables remained that could qualify as an ingredient. To be fair, ordinary food couldn't have lasted three hundred years — but I'd pinned real hopes on the preserved rations.
And through all of it, the goblins had left the green juice behind, which frankly pissed me off. I suppose even monsters draw the line somewhere.
Still, having this much space and free access to water — that's a genuine win.
Those idiot goblins never knew it, but the cafeteria section housed a machine that synthesized drinking water automatically. Told that a single user could comfortably stretch it past ten years, I'd indulged in a shower for the first time in who knows how long.
Clean body, finally. No more risk of the stench giving me away to goblins.
"Now that basic safety is more or less secured, shall we begin training?"
"Training?"